Atomistic modeling of carbon Cottrell atmospheres in bcc iron

Atomistic simulations with an EAM interatomic potential were used to evaluate carbon-dislocation binding energies in bcc iron. These binding energies were then used to calculate the occupation probability of interstitial sites in the vicinity of an edge and a screw dislocation. The saturation concentration due to carbon-carbon interactions was also estimated by atomistic simulations in the dislocation core and taken as an upper limit for carbon concentration in a Cottrell atmosphere. We obtained a maximum concentration of 10 ± 1 at.% C at T = 0 K within a radius of 1 nm from the dislocation lines. The spatial carbon distributions around the line defects revealed that the Cottrell atmosphere associated with an edge dislocation is denser than that around a screw dislocation, in contrast with the predictions of the classical model of Cochardt and colleagues. Moreover, the present Cottrell atmosphere model is in reasonable quantitative accord with the three-dimensional atom probe data available in the literature.